## What Is Terraform?

Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tool developed by HashiCorp. It allows users to define and provision data center infrastructure using a declarative configuration language known as HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). Terraform enables the safe and efficient building, changing, and versioning of infrastructure across various service providers.

By codifying infrastructure, Terraform allows for consistent and repeatable deployments, reducing the potential for human error and facilitating collaboration among teams.

## What Are Terraform Providers?

Terraform relies on plugins called providers to interact with cloud providers, SaaS providers, and other APIs. Each provider is responsible for understanding API interactions and exposing resources and data sources that Terraform can manage. Providers enable Terraform to manage a wide range of infrastructure components, from low-level resources like compute instances and storage to high-level services like DNS entries and SaaS features.

## About the Konnect Mesh Manager Provider

The Mesh Manager support in Konnect Terraform Provider is a new addition to the ecosystem, enabling users to manage Kong Mesh resources declaratively. With this provider, you can codify your mesh infrastructure, making it easier to version, audit, and collaborate on changes. The provider supports the creation and management of Control Planes as well as all mesh resources and policies. 

An example of creating a Control Plane, a Mesh, and a MeshTrafficPermission looks like this:

resource "konnect_mesh_control_plane" "my_meshcontrolplane" {
  provider = konnect-beta
  name        = "TF CP"
  description = "A control plane created using terraform"
}

resource "konnect_mesh" "default" {
  provider = konnect-beta
  type  = "Mesh"
  cp_id = konnect_mesh_control_plane.my_meshcontrolplane.id
  name  = "default"

  skip_creating_initial_policies = [ "*" ]
}

resource "konnect_mesh_traffic_permission" "allow_all" {
  provider = konnect-beta
  cp_id    = konnect_mesh_control_plane.my_meshcontrolplane.id
  mesh     = konnect_mesh.mesh1.name

  type = "MeshTrafficPermission"
  name = "allow-all"
  spec = {
    from = [
      {
        target_ref = {
          kind = "Mesh"
        }
        default = {
          action = "Allow"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Please refer to the[ getting started guide](https://docs.konghq.com/mesh/latest/guides/deploy-kong-mesh-using-terraform-and-konnect/) getting started guide for a step-by-step tutorial.

## Managing existing resources

Using the `import` directive, you can import existing resources into your Terraform state like this:

import {
  provider = "konnect-beta"
  to = konnect_mesh_control_plane.my_meshcontrolplane
  id = "c9fd8f76-6460-45fb-9a64-a981d8a512d7"
}

For a [step-by-step guide,](https://developer.konghq.com/mesh/import-konnect-deployment-to-terraform/)step-by-step guide, please refer to the documentation.

## What about on-prem?

If you’re using the on-prem version of Kong Mesh, there is a separate provider [https://github.com/Kong/terraform-provider-kong-mesh/](https://github.com/Kong/terraform-provider-kong-mesh/)https://github.com/Kong/terraform-provider-kong-mesh/ (currently in **BETA**) that is designed especially for that and has the same features for Kong Mesh as the Konnect one.

## Feedback

We welcome your feedback to improve its functionality and stability. If you encounter any issues or have suggestions, please open an issue in the[ GitHub repository](https://github.com/Kong/terraform-provider-konnect-beta/issues) GitHub repository.